The titles were:

• The RTS Dune 2: The game took players away from twitch play to a cerebral approach.
• Super Mario 64: The true precursor to the likes of GTAIV as it ushered in free roaming in an open environment.
• Tomb Raider: The game featured an iconic heroine instead of a muscle-bound man.
• Halo: The title brought FPS games to consoles.
• World of Warcraft: The use of "carrot dangling" to drive players to keep playing.

Agree? Disagree?

Molyneux picks his top 5 most innovative games [That VideoGame Blog]

That's according to an account of the Microsoft Game Studios creative director's talk at BAFTA's Video Games Lecture from That VideoGame Blog. It sounds like Molyneux either envisions something along the lines of free-to-play MMO pricing tactics, in which the good stuff may be available to those willing to purchase or simply an easier way to get unlockable items.

Based on a tweet from Gamesbrief's Nicholas Lovell, it sounds more like the latter. "In-game shops are just a way of monetizing cheating," Molyneux was paraphrased as saying at the lecture.

Of course, who knows how much of this will come to be, given Peter's track record. But it sounds like interesting plans are afoot for the third Fable, like them or not.

Microtransactions coming to Fable III [TVGB]

Gamesbrief founder Nicholas Lovell has been posting snippets from Molynuex's talk on his Twitter account, as spotted by VG247, writing that the Fable lead confirmed Natal support in the role-playing game. Apparently, Molyneux also joked that Natal would be featured in the form of a "feces simulator" for the game.

Surprised by Natal support in Fable III? Doubt it, as Molyneux lead the unveiling of Microsoft's motion and voice recognition controller at this year's E3 with the Natal-powered Milo demo, enthusiastically showing his support of the technology. And Pete has "never said it's not going to use Natal," a roundabout way of saying that the Xbox 360 game was going to use it in some capacity.

"Do you really think ... knowing me ... I wouldn't want to use something like Natal?" Molyneux said at the PICNIC Conference in the Netherlands earlier this month. "I mean that's just mad, man."

Just no feces simulation, please.

VG247

In an interview at the PICNIC Conference in the Netherlands last week, Molyneux's interviewer basically stipulates that there will be no Natal support in Fable III. Rather than move on to the rest of the question, Molyneux goes out of his way to correct the record, and then some.

Here's a transcript of Molyneux's relevant remarks, beginning with his questioner saying Fable III will not incorporate Natal.

I never said that.

I am going to say it's going to use a controller. But I've never said it's not going to use Natal.

And obviously what would probably happen if I started talking about this is you would see a little red dot appear moving on my forehead. And then as I would start to speak the words then there would be a shot, gunfire, and I would be assassinated. Quite clearly it is that sensitive.

But let me give this to you absolutely straight. I have not said that we're not going to have Natal in Fable III. All I have really said is it is a controller experience. That doesn't mean there isn't going to be Natal.

Do you really think ... knowing me ... I wouldn't want to use something like Natal? I mean that's just mad, man.

The entire video is here - the beginning narrative is in Dutch but the interview is in English. The relevant Natal comments begin about 7:00.

Big thanks to reader Rowan for the tip.

Interview Peter Molyneux [PICNIC 2009] [Game Kings]

"Now, I hate demos," Molyneux tells website Edge Online. "I think demos are the death knell of experiences. Over the years I've done demos and they've either completely ruined the game, given too much to the player, or they've confused people, so I said that we should give away the very first 45 minutes of the game, completely free, and just before you get to Bowerstone up comes this message saying, ‘If you want to continue playing press this button, but if you want to buy the rest of the game, press this'. So people that are interested but don't want to commit to the full purchase can play more, and people that are into it can buy all of it, and they don't lose experience or gold they've collected."

Instead of a separate demo, it sounds like Molyneux would rather allow players to start playing the actual title. If they like it, they can buy the game. If not, they can stop and be done with it. Kind of like flipping through a book in a bookstore, but without the ability to sit in said bookstore all day and read the book free of charge. Dammit.

"If you think to the future I think you can see a world in which the close relationship with the customer that digital affords is going to completely change the way players pay for games," adds Molyneux. That future, argues the designer, should be fairly priced so that players are "second mortgaging [their] house" every time they're buying an episode.

Interview: Peter Molyneux [Edge]

In an interview on the choices the Fable series forces its player to make, Molyneux said Fable II's ultimate decision was a bridge too far for some. They so resented being forced to choose between sacrificing all their companions - including the beloved dog - or a sizable group of people, that they wrote in, vociferously. Molyneux told GameSetWatch he "did have hate mail from people" who couldn't sacrifice the greater numbers, and said bye to the dog.

It all "got to such a furor," Molyneux said, that Fable's first DLC was changed to allow the dog to return to the game.

You can look at this one of two ways: One, that Molyneux diluted the force of his game's calling card: choices and their consequences.

Or, two, that this isn't like filmgoers complaining about a surprise ending. Gamers don't just passively experience the story, and having no idea they'd be asked to do something this uncomfortable is quite a shock. I'm not sure I'd sent "hate mail," (I'm not sure how vehement it was, either), but I'm willing to see the gripe's legitimacy.

In-Depth: Peter Molyneux on the Importance of Choice [GameSetWatch via Destructoid]

The "See The Future" DLC strongly and bluntly alluded to that new direction as well, and today's press conference in Germany seems to have cemented that into fact.

"Third in a series and second outing on same format can be a problem," Molyneux said. Instead of rehashing a slightly tweaked version of Fable II, the designer wants players to be surprised and "expect the unexpected." For Fable III, that means ruling a kingdom.

A voice-over for the game's teaser sums it up perfectly: "The kingdom of Albion is changing. The land needs a ruler. King or queen. Cherished leader or ruthless tyrant. That future has not been written. The race for the crown has begun."

Instead of becoming a hero, players will start out as the son or a daughter of an Albion hero and become the ruler of all — explaining those recent teasers. For the first half of the game, players will lead a fight against a tyrant king by gathering support, gaining followers and uniting factions and then face the reality of why those things happen in the world.

Players must decide which promises they can keep for their followers, and those choices will not be as easy as they sound.

The developer has been inspired by historical figures like Joan of Arc, Richard III and Genghis Khan.

"Why not be that king or that queen? Your consequences and your judgments affect not just you, but the whole of your land," Molyneux says. The designer wants players to feel the power of their actions.

Like other Fable games, players can play the title for good or evil. Choices include poverty, greed, tyranny, compassion, progress and tradition. Also, like in Fable II, the player's family will have a role in the game. You can expand your castle to please your queen or king, but at the expense of taking money from the pockets of your people. Characters from Fable II will also be appearing in the title.

The landscape of Albion will range from lush green to industrialized to show "dynamic regions" and how they show things like poverty and injustice.

Game mechanic-wise, Fable III allows players to pardon citizens or sentence them to whatever fate they like. It's up to the player to make those judgments. Another new mechanic is called "Touch". Because the expressions of Fable II are not appropriate for Fable III (you are the ruler!), this new interaction allows players to shake hands, hug, embrace and even give a "full passionate snog". "Dynamic Touch" allows players to hold hands and, for example, pull them along to look at the sunset.

"Imagine hearing the cries from a young child in a house," says Molyneux. "You as a hero, a ruler, you storm into that house to save that child." Dynamic Touch will add more to saving that child than simply pressing A to save them, letting you feel the interaction of picking them up, pulling them away, saving them from a burning house. "Being able to touch people as a ruler and see how they react, that's what we want."

According to Molyneux, "You're going to see all sorts on injustices on the road to your rule." That road to rule begins in 2010 when Fable III arrives on the Xbox 360.

Molyneux will be talking about the setting and the story of this third role-playing game during Microsoft's Gamescom press conference, which is scheduled to commence later this morning.

We'll bring you all the details of the announcement - and everything else Microsoft have to offer - once the presser begins at 10:00am Central European Time.

Update: And it's official. Fable designer Peter Molyneux has just announced Fable III for the Xbox 360.

OK, this very definitely is about a Gamescom announcement, but the choice of historical figures is quite intriguing. Guevara and Robespierre are men of considerable controversy; Lincoln, for his time (it was a civil war, after all) was, too, but definitely is remembered in a much better light than the other two. I mean, the guy's on money. End of argument.

Honest Abe's quote is about revolution, reinforcing that theme. Any clues what we're dealing with, other than yet another homepage countdown?

Lionhead Studios [site]

Visitors landing on Lionhead Studio's website are now greeted by the visage of Maximilien Robespierre, a key figure in the French Revolution. Gamers will also note that the number six that was subtly displayed next to Che's head has been replaced with a rather blatant number five today.

Peter Molyneux, no stranger to hype, seems to be preparing for some news, perhaps big news at next week's GamesCom. Five days from now Molyneux, Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studiosm, will, according to Microsoft, make a "special announcement."

Will it be for a revolutionary-themed game, or a game seen by Molyneux as revolutionary? Which ever it is, we'll be there live to break the news.

But then Bullfrog were sold to EA. And Molyneux went off and formed Lionhead. And...all people were left with was an innate desire to complain to publishers about how there should be remake upon remake of Bullfrog's classic titles.

Complaints that EA - who hold the rights to Bullfrog's back catalogue - have heard. EA's Harvey Elliot has told Kikizo that many of those old games are worth a second look:

If you remember all the old classics you played, if you go back and play them now, they're not the same. They were right for their time, and the trick with those games is coming up with what's right for the time now. I'm going to look at them at some point, I think there's an opportunity to bring those back in the future, but only if it's right for the time and not just a 'remake' or something. We'd need to do it in a way that's true to the original values, but would still make a great game today.

Know what would make Syndicate great today? Take the original Syndicate, put it in a new box and sell it.

Why there's hope for Bullfrog IP returning [Kikizo]

The customized console is wrapped in a first generation casing. The innards seem new, but the shell is not. Below is a picture of the A/V slot for a first generation Xbox 360.
Compare this with the HDMI-equipped A/V slot of the Xbox 360 Elite.
Now look at this Frankenconsole mess.
The A/V and HDMI slots are shoehorned into a casing designed for only an A/V Slot. Meaning? It's not possible to plug the A/V cable in and difficult to even get the HDMI cable in there. Last we checked, being able to plug your console in is kind of important.

Thanks Toast for the tip!

Peter Molyneux, creative director of Microsoft Europe, wants to help Rare have more of an identity. Here, let's let him say it in his own words: "Actually one of the things I really want to do is help Rare have more of an identity," says Molyneux. "I was totally blown away from the amount of talent that there is at Rare, but it's just that they come from a background where Nintendo required them to be this very, very secretive company. I just want to give them the confidence to tell the world what they're doing. I hope you're going to see more from Rare and I want to help them get well known."

We thought Rare was already pretty well known — but well, that's just us. While Molyneux is hatching plans for Rare, the company is currently hard at work on numerous Natal Projects. Hey, that's it! Call it Rare's Natal Project. That should do it.

Molyneux: "I want to help Rare have more of an identity" [GI via Eurogamer]

While tidying up the various highs and lows of gaming forum NeoGAF's reaction to the three major E3 keynotes, Andrew Hiscock notes that when it comes to the lows, he found something interesting:

It should be noted that in nearly all instances of an appearance of a known person — whether executive, developer, or celebrity — the threads responded initially as positive. The sole exceptions to this were: Cammie Dunaway, Yoko Ono, and Peter Molyneux.

Who'd have thought that Smiles and Promises would some day end up in the same boat as "that creepy lady who broke up The Beatles"?

Hardcore Gamers vs. The Big Three E3 Press Conferences: An Empirical Study Considered [Bitmob]

Speaking with Peter Molyneux this week, the developer said that the child artificial intelligence for Xbox 360 tech demo Milo and Kate is usually "scrubbed" after about 200 hours. The longest Milo has "lived" is 300 hours, he said. Something done to help test the development of their virtual child and his ability to track experiences.

Molyneux repeated that Milo isn't meant to be a living AI, but rather a cleverly-crafted combination of nuanced facial animation and artificial emotion that creates the illusion of life.

In my second demo of Milo and Kate, I was able to watch the computer that drove the software, just to make sure that the digital child didn't have a puppeteer. The computer running the software took the video signal of the person interacting with Milo and then tracked the movements of the body by placing digital boxes on the joints. It also tracked the facial movements of the person speaking and other key motions, like shoulders.

Molyneux said that other software listens to the voice and analyzes it for emotional responses to cue up reactions from Milo.

The software that analyzes all of this, compares it to the history of interactions it has had with you and uses it to determine things like your mood.

Looking closer at the icons which are pegged to each corner of the screen, including one for work and one for play, it appears that Milo and Kate may one day be a more personal, more interactive version of something like The Sims.

Molyneux also talked about how the software could in theory track your daily Xbox 360 usage to help build out a conversation with you about your gaming habits. He also plans to have Milo track bigger cultural events, like American Idol, and get regular voice updates so the child can talk to you about things currently going on in the world.

The interactions will take place not only in the garden of Milo's virtual world, but also in places like the home's kitchen, in the woods, and other virtual settings.

More interesting to me is that the child will be able to interact with an entire family or collection of people, forming varying degrees of faux emotional connection to them depending on the interactions.

You won't, however, be able to verbally abuse or emotionally attack Milo, Molyneux said.

Milo just won't register anything like that. It's meant to be a positive experience, he said, something that gives people a chance to feel what it's like to have a positive impact on someone, to be a role model.

Previously, Molyneux founded Bullfrog Productions where he created "god games" like Populous. After leaving Bullfrog, Molyneux created Lionhead Studios, which has churned out titles like Black & White and The Movies. That studio was purchased by Microsoft in April 2006.

In his new role, the game designer will oversee the creative direction of fellow UK Microsoft studio Rare, as well as other European external projects. He will continue to be based in the Lionhead offices. And those worried about his involvement in future Lionhead titles, Molyneux tweeted, "thanks for the support everyone. Just to be clear I will still be as involved with the design of lionhead games as ever was."

Molyneux becomes European creative director at MGS [Develop]

On Monday night, I got the briefest of demos of what may be the most ambitious piece of software known to be in development for Microsoft's new motion-control Project Natal: the virtual-person game known as Milo.

And, yes, Molyneux told me, this will be a game.

Three months ago at the Game Developers Conference, Molyneux was being cagey when I asked him what the evolution of the Fable II dog would be. He said he wanted to tell me. And today he admitted that he was alluding to Milo. It's the evolution of his interest in creating game characters that seem real. Milo, by the way, will have his own dog. (The dog's presence was alluded to in a demo-concluding still image of a boy, a dog, both in silhouette, and the line: "It's never too late to have a happy childhood.")

Molyneux is wary of over-promising these days. He holds back more than he used to when he hyped features early for games like Fable and The Movies. Today's brief Milo demo introduced a new element: he repeatedly cautioned that some of what I would experience with the game were "tricks."

The demo took place in a brightly-lit white room in the Standard Hotel in Los Angeles. A test version of Project Natal was set-up, including a camera over a TV and some other sensors. (None of Microsoft's Natal demos tonight used anything that looked like final hardware).

On the TV, a boy, Milo, sat on a swing hanging from a tree. Molyneux asked me to stand up in front of the TV and to begin looking around. The game was using head-tracking technology, I discovered. Leaning my head to the left or right — or backing away or walking closer to the TV — smoothly adjusted the game's camera angle. The tracking was responsive and intuitive.

I sat down while my MTV Multiplayer blog successor Russ Frushtick tried the next part of the Milo demo. He stood in front of the TV as Milo approached him and then, using his hands to make goggles over his face, he initiated an EyeToy-style novelty. He waved his hands to make the water ripple. (Molyneux told us that you can also help Milo build a treehouse.)

I looked away from the TV to ask Molyneux what I should make of this Milo project. Is it really right to think of it as a game? He said it had to be. It had to have a goal and even an ending, he said. At its most basic he said that we could think of Milo as a Tamagotchi but that it would be much more advanced and magical than those old virtual pets ever were.

Molyneux had me wrap up the demo by approaching Milo again. He asked me to call Milo over by saying my own name and acting happy. Milo walked up to me and complimented me on my blue shirt (my shirt was indeed blue). Then he stood there, waiting for me to say things. There was a little awkwardness here. The Milo demo was partially being manipulated by a developer who was sitting nearby, and I couldn't tell if he was merely calibrating the game or how much he was pulling its strings. I said nice things to Milo and the virtual boy smiled. I said I was standing next to Peter Molyneux and he sort of sighed. The most charming moment was that blue-shirt moment. It felt like this virtual person made a connection with me.

After I stepped away, Molyneux asked me what I thought. I told him the set-up was promising but that I'd want to use it more to see how well it works. Given how new the Natal project seems — and given how long I know Molyneux has been wanting to make a game about influencing the life of a virtual child — I questioned how long he and his team had intended to even integrate a camera. Molyneux said that he'd wanted to do something like Milo for a long time but that the idea hadn't really clicked with Microsoft until the Natal project came about. It was coming together.

I left impressed with the ambition on display but also certain that what we were shown was loosely stitched. Much tightening and tuning will be needed to make Milo feel like more than a collection of tech experiments — to feel alive. It's exciting that that's Molyneux's goal.

As if all the news slipping out in the days leading up to E3 2009, this year we have to deal with the growing number of Twitter teases, such as this one from the official Lionhead Twitter:

Lionhead is off to LA for this year's E3 and will give a big presentation at the Microsoft press conference on Monday! Watch this space!

What does that mean? Is a new game being announced, perhaps Peter Molyneux's next big thing? More downloadable content for Fable II? Could it possibly tie in to the other Lionhead on Twitter, who was recently been seen enjoying the unusually cool weather?

Probably not. Just another little bit of teasing that will contribute to the formation of ulcers leading up to next week's big reveal.

Lionhead's Teasing Tweet [Official Lionhead Twitter via Keighley's Twitter]

We've known that this week's See the Future DLC for Fable II would tease the next phase of the Fable series.

Now we've seen it and started asking questions.

This is your last SPOILER warning.

Still here?

The Fable II DLC suggests that the future of the series could either be grander or more intimate than what players have experienced in the first two Fable games. Those games starred the player as a ground-level hero, a legend among towns of peasants, a man or woman capable of starting a family or three.

See the Future allows your hero to meet a soothsayer who narrates a playable sequence that puts this character in the future. The hero wears a crown and cape and is described as a king. He walks among his knights and subjects. A narrator, Theresa, talks about how he deals with the "responsibility of an entire kingdom."

The hero's throne is shown, and the implication is that Fable could be embracing lead creator Peter Molyneux's god-game past (see Populous, for example), expanding its scale to let the player's decisions not just affect their character's body or property but the lives of a kingdom.

Then the camera turns and the narrator says: "But this is of the least importance… this is the real future, his child, not yet born, but destined for greatness. A child on whom the fate of Albion will depend one day. As will the fate of Aurora."

The player is shown a baby in a crib. (You can watch all this on YouTube.)

What's it all mean? Is Fable going to become a child-rearing adventure? Who or what or where is Aurora? Is the first part of the tease misdirection, or is it the latter half?

A representative for Peter Molyneux deferred such questions to Microsoft.

A Microsoft rep told Kotaku via e-mail that "See the Future does give a glimpse of Albion's future, fictionally speaking, but we can't comment on what's next for the franchise."

We followed up asking if players could at least expect more Fable II DLC that would maybe shed more light on this. The rep replied: "We have nothing new to share right now as it relates to more content for Fable II."

Did we just see Fable III early? And if we did, what does it mean?

Lionhead's own Sam Van Tilburgh directed us to the contest, which can be entered by anyone with a free Lionhead website account, obtained by simply registering your MSN handle. You can enter the contest once between now and June 12th, with the winner being drawn and quartered notified on June 15th. The prize package includes one rare NTSC Fable II console signed by series creator Peter Molyneux and a signed copy of Fable II to go inside of it, spinning around to make pretty pictures appear on your television.

It should be an excellent way to experience the See the Future DLC sometime in the near future. Chances are slim that you'll walk away a winner, but at least you'll have tried, and that's certainly worth something. Just not a custom Fable II 360.

Fable II See The Future Prize Draw [Lionhead, Sponsored by Microsoft]